


I’m a doctor, not a soldier

by Toinette93



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Angst, Apart from McCoy the characters are only mentioned, Blood and Gore, Character Study, Gen, I'm A Doctor Not A, Internal Monologue, Missions Gone Wrong, Not Episode Related, Redshirts have a limited life expectancy, Short One Shot, Tellarites, early in the series, phaser - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25647316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toinette93/pseuds/Toinette93
Summary: "Medikit, tricorder, and, oh…  phaser, yes. McCoy had not been directly ordered to bring it along."McCoy has brought his phaser on a landing party, without being ordered to. He wonders why he did it, and can he still be an old country doctor? Also, the mission goes horribly wrong.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 17





	I’m a doctor, not a soldier

When McCoy stepped on the transporter pad, Spock raised an eyebrow. What had he done again? Damn green-blooded menace seemed the always think there was something he was doing wrong. He just scowled, refusing to give it any more attention than it deserved. The science officer went back to looking at his tricorder. McCoy knew it was probably more out of lack of interest in him than any effect his scowling may have had – the Vulcan could very much hold his own in an argument, but he still felt pleased with himself, and rolled on the soles of his feet a bit.

A tired looking Jim Kirk walked into the transporter room. Still, even when somewhat muted, his smile lit up the room, as he enquired if everything was ready. Spock assured him it was the case:

“I have confirmed the atmosphere is breathable for humans, and the beam-out coordinate exact, sir. Our negotiations with the Tellarite colonists should take place in the best possible conditions given the circumstances”.

“Thank, you, Mr Spock.” Then, turning to the communications officer, the security officer and the yeoman:

“Ladies?”

The three officers nodded their readiness.

“Doctor?”

“As ready as I’m ever gonna get to have my atoms scrambled, captain, sir.” He drawled.

“Leutenant Kyle, energize.” Kirk said, smiling. But as he took another look at McCoy, his smile took a serious, somewhat saddened quality to it. McCoy followed his captain’s gaze to his own utility belt. Medikit, tricorder, and, oh… phaser, yes. McCoy had not been directly ordered to bring it along. A few month ago, he’s never had taken it without a direct order. He was a doctor, not a soldier. And yet, this time, he had put it on without even thinking about it. That.. irked him, but before he could really think it through, the transporter took hold, and he dematerialized from the pad.

The worst thing was, he had been right to take it, his phaser, McCoy thought that night, sipping a bourbon after having just spent four hours in surgery patching Ensign Lin from security back together. She’d be ok, in a few days, physically at least, although it had been a bit of a close call at first.

The phaser had even saved Yeoman Marina Giordano’s life, McCoy mused, if only for a few minutes. The next blast had gotten her. He’d have to go check on Spock, on top of going to see Jim like he did every time a crewman died. Even to a Vulcan, getting a young woman’s brain blow directly on your face wasn’t something easily forgotten, he guessed. He knew he’d remember, and he wasn’t the one who had been covered in the stuff.

The mission had gone to hell in a hand basket the moment they had materialized. Simply put, it had been a trap. The secessionist Tellarites had turned out to be hostages, used as baits to lure in a Constellation Starship by some rogue Tal-Shiar agents. It had been bloody, they had lost two crew-women. Ensign Martial had died before he could even start operating on her: that many holes in a body would do that to someone. They’d wiped out the Romulans, not managing to make any prisoners, and only ten of the Tellarites hostages had still been there to be saved.

So, the phaser had definitely been needed, but it shouldn’t have been. It was supposed to be a peaceful negotiation, well as peaceful as interaction with Tellarites could be, anyway. And yet he’d brought it with him, unprompted, without thinking. The unpredictability of the missions on the Enterprise – which he privately referred to as: that damn ship is a magnet for trouble and the capacity of her captain and first officer for the same are gonna kill me someday – had changed something inside him. He wasn’t just an ole’ country doctor, not anymore, not that it had ever been completely true to begin with. Well, if Spock could go against his entire species’ purported dislike of violence and bring a phaser though he very rarely used it, he guessed he could do the same. Always set on stun, obviously.

He wasn’t a soldier, and they weren’t at war, and he’d always be a doctor first, and a Starfleet Officer only somewhere down the line, but he was a ship’s surgeon. And if keeping his crew alive meant stunning a few murderous aliens, then so be it. Dr Mccoy finished his glass of bourbon, and walked out of his office. He had a captain and a Vulcan first officer to check up on.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks,
> 
> I know this was really short, but I just read a few books about the militarization of medicine and medicalization of war and I thought, humm, interesting, should see how it could apply to Star Trek. So I wrote this thing. I'm not sure whether it really has anything to do with the theory, to be honest, but oh, well. 
> 
> I guess I should probably tag "technically a crossover with my PhD thesis" but then, no one would read it. 
> 
> I might write something of the sort about DS9 and the Dominion War and stuff, don't know if anybody would be interested in that. 
> 
> Anyhow, here's the reference of one of those books I mentioned : Cooter Roger, Harrison Mark et Sturdy Steve (eds.), Medicine and Modern Warfare, Amsterdam [u.a.], Rodopi, 1999, iii+286 p. It's pretty interesting, I think. 
> 
> Come yell at me in the comment ! (Nicely? Please?)
> 
> Live long and prosper people,
> 
> Toinette


End file.
